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Thursday, March 02, 2006

Made An Impression

Sometimes when I'm reading I come across a thought that impresses me. Sometimes it's just a terrific arrangement of words, an unexpected expression of an idea, or a picturesque phrase. Here are just a few that I've recorded.

from The Secret Live of Bees by Sue Monk KiddThere was a gentleness in her words, like they'd been rocked in a little hammock of tenderness down in her throat. That's the only purpose grand enough for a human life. Not just to love, but to persist in love.

from Crispin: The Cross of Lead by AviThere's an old soldier's saying, 'If you have to choose between alertness and worry, being alert will bring you more days of life.'

You are full of sadness. Those who bring remorse are shunned. Do you know why? Because sorrow is the common fate of man. Who then would want more? But wit and laughter, why, no one has enough. When I think of the perfections of our Savior, I choose to think most on His most perfect laughter. It must have been the kind that makes us laugh, too. For mirth is the coin that brings a welcome. Lose your sorrows and you'll find your freedom.

from The Christmas Caroll by Charles Dickens. Scrooge said this when hearing his nephew's laughter.It is a fair, even handed, noble adjustment of things that while there is infection in disease and sorrow., there is nothing in the world so irresisteibly contagious as laughter and good humor.

from A Parchment of Leaves by Silas HouseYou have to seek out the promise of joy, no matter your circumstances.

Guilt is the worst, smallest kind of jail. I was trapped inside myself as if my soul could not flutter past my rib cage.

from Whispers by Dean KoontzThe attorney's patience with her could fit into a thimble with room left over for one of Charo's stage costumes plus the collected wisdom of the last four U.S. Presidents.

More than anything else, our understanding and use of language shapes us. Language is the way we express every idea, every thought. Sloppy thinking leads to a sloppy use of language. But the opposite is also true. Imprecise language causes imprecise thinking.

from The Potter's Field by Ellis PetersI think truth, like the burgeoning of a bulb under the soil will make its way to the light.

from One Corpse Too Many by Ellis PetersAs for justice, it is but half the tale. God disposes all. From the highest to the lowest extreme of a man's scope, wherever justice and retribution can reach him, so can grace.